Looking back at 2025: CONNECTIVITY

 
 

I think we can all agree that on a world level 2025 was a wild, intense ride. Starting with the LA wildfires, and the devastating authoritarian regime changes with never ending newscycles, the trauma of the Epstein files and current regime in power, the horrific anti-semetic massacre on Bondi beach, university shootings (and too many mass shootings), and that only brushes the surface.

On a personal level most of this year felt like a slog, but for no particular reason. I spent more time than ever at my desk chair for what I call pro-bono work (basically unpaid work for myself). It was definitely not a year of instant gratification, but that’s not what connectivity is about. It' was more about planting seeds for the future (back to my 2024 word: BLOOM).

Some of the slog was admin and putting systems in place. It took me 10 months but I’m SO excited to start the new year with a new accountant. The diversification of my business is something that doesn’t slot in nicely to the French system. I’ll spare you the details, but I’m relieved to have a fresh start.

I spent 9 months working on a 1-pager to present my work for speaking and corporate workshops. It’s a subject I know very well, but being so close to it was a challenge, as well as translating it into language that would resonate with companies. But I got there! (And yes, it will always be evolving.) In the end I got representation with Nina B. Winston Speaking Out Loud and PepTalk. Both of these opportunities happened thanks to folks who had participated in my past workshops.

My goal to do more public speaking happened on two continents. In August I spoke at AIGA Maine’s Design Fest where the theme was connection (how on brand for my year of connectivity!). It was a delight to do it in person. I got everyone mapping on bananas! In November I was the speaker for CreativeMornings Paris where this month’s global theme was growth. This talk I had everyone drawing lobsters and made a fun little promo video too! (Lobsters and the discomfort of growth became a big theme inside my summer Mapping Your Path OVERRIDE! edition.) I just didn’t expect to lose my voice the week of the talk!

Speaking became a big focus. I attended a handful of Toastmaster’s Paris events (but ultimately decided it was too structured for me). I really got hooked during Jess Ekstrom’s MicDrop Bootcamp, and subsequent workshop (helping me take my work to the next level). I also attended a TEDx women event in London (I did apply, but grateful I got to experience it before actually speaking). Props to putting myself out there! I’m grateful to my fairy godmother of free tickets, Fatou, who gifted me entry into Nés Sous la Même Étoile, ChangeNOW, and VivaTech, which was inspiring to see how speaking is done on a professional level, and I left inspired.

This year I had in person workshops in Versailles (the perfume students I love working with), and in December I headed to Austin, Texas for a full day workshop with a dream team. I can’t say much more, but it really connected so much of my background into one project.

I hosted several book events including being guest author at Messy Nessy’s Writers and Readers Club at her shop in Paris, speaking + running a creative workshop at the Inspirelle Unstoppable You event in Paris, hosting a banana mapping + book workshop for AAWE in a member’s home, and taking advantage of being in Texas and participating in First Friday ArtWalk Bastrop outside The Painted Porch bookshop (I even turned it into a cheesy Christmas movie trailer). There are always banana maps at these events and it’s quite powerful to hear what comes up for folks. Connecting with readers is the best! (And with other authors too!) Throughout the year I also ran a bunch of Banana Mapping Workshops through my OVERRIDE! Substack. Speaking of OVERRIDE! I also recorded my audio book this year, and did my first podcast in French about the book.

Over the summer I hosted my first IRL Paris meet-up of Mapping Your Path participants past and present. A handful of non-Paris people happened to be in town too, so that was lovely to connect, and very on theme for my year of CONNECTIVITY. I also got to lead two StreetWisdom walkshops as part of the World Wide Wander.

A year ago I consciously made an effort to get out and go to more “networking” events and events in general. I can see how those initial efforts feel more natural now and I’ve met some lovely people in the process.

The other concerted effort I made was joining a gym and going twice a week in addition to my weekly swim. After tons of shoulder issues in 2024, this felt like intentional strengthening. I also was able to reconnect with rowing on the Hydrow and discovering my favorite coach, Aquil, who for a long time was rowing out of the same rowing center as my uncle (whose practice I got to see when i was in Boston).

BIG WINS:

  • 8 months to create a 1-pager! (and made a speaker sizzle reel!)

  • Picked up by 2 speakers bureau!

  • 10 months later I found a new French accountant! (It felt like volume dating duds for awhile there)

  • Made big strides with investing (and I’m compliant between US + France = NOT easy!)

  • Joined a gym and feeling stronger. Consistent 2x week + 1/week swim

  • Recorded my audio book! Completing the trifecta of publishing!

  • Learned loads of new digital skills whether I wanted to or not (Canva, AdobeExpress, Descript)

  • Getting systems in place + SOP

  • Putting myself out there regardless of who shows (or doesn’t)



HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDED:

PLACES I TRAVELED:

WHAT MAKES SENSE ON MY MAP!

  • Partnership Place — OMG my project in Austin had a partnership theme (synchroniCITY also sparked something at the workshop)

  • Train tracks— my dad and I did the Camino by train (a dream of his, he booked it all a month out)

  • In the arena felt like it came to life at my CreativeMornings Paris talk

  • The Circular Power Plant was connecting the dots between ideas and also Rob Hopkins’s work around climate activism and sustainability

  • Cabin of calm came to life in Maine this summer (I think the natural spring was the lake I swam in)

  • The magic portals were my friend Fatou’s lens into the speaking world and the tickets that were gifted to me

  • Bridging divides links to my I will not be complicit post

  • There was lots of banana mapping this year in my community clubhouse

  • The Shine Theory Gym represents me joining the gym and making it a practice

  • There was belonging in MYP

  • The patience room really was necessary

  • To the moon was a nod to meeting my grandfather’s secretary

  • Site for future projects allowed for unexpected projects to fall into place

  • Level up definitely happening!

NEW EXPERIENCES:

FEATURED:

ALL THE FEELINGS:

Pride, delight, underwhelm, disappointment, drained, running in circles, voiceless, grateful, pumped, relieved, alive, (re)aligned.

Most of the underwhelm came around my book and my efforts to spread the word. While I see it as a key piece of the entire ecosystem, the reality is it’s also exponentially more work (without instant return). I did a few events that were underwhelming, especially given the amount of logistics and planning that goes into it. (I even had my first person who refused to map on a banana despite paying to attend a banana mapping workshop.)

KEY LESSONS AND INSIGHTS:

  • It’s not an if you build it, they will come world. It’s essentially to actively share your work. Be your best own advocate and hype person!

  • Scrolling my phone is not a productive habit (nothing new); I have a desire to return to the insta of Instagram and share my work sooner rather than later

  • New contacts can be the most powerful expanders and open new doors

  • Even if it feels like you didn’t do much/enough, when you zoom out, you made massive progress

  • Use your voice even when the world tries to take it from you. (Losing your voice 2x in one month is a skill!)

  • Success we see today came from efforts all along (especially true for Ilona Maher, Ali Truiwit, Cynthia Erivo, and more!)

  • Follow your dad’s crazy ideas (camino by train!)

  • Trust if something is meant to happen it will (just maybe not on your timeline)

  • Next year is about sharing the ideas, not just the offer/logistics!

Stay tuned to my adventures throughout the year by subscribing to my Connect the Dots newsletter. 💌

The next 3-mo Mapping Your Path workshop + community opens for enrollment in mid-Jan and kicks off Feb 5.

reflectionsAnne DitmeyerComment